I really had forgotten about them until my friend Joanna mentioned them.

These workshops are free and while they are not "live" anymore.

the information and videos are up online until August 1st!

The left side with the circles came about from watching one of Linda Blinn's video lessons in the 2nd workshop. The right side is a small section of a very large piece of fabric-paper I created following my dear friend Frieda's instructions. Wonderful!! It is fabric that is stamped, dyed with fabric paint and collaged with paper. I saw it folded up under my work table and thought -ah ha! This would be great to add to my journal. Lord knows there is plenty of it! I tackled a much larger piece of fabric that I really should have . . . can you image I would do something like that? ha! Here is a good photo showing how large it is: Fabric-paper project. I have cut into this huge piece now, so it is not quite that size anymore, but it is still quite large!

I cut a section to fit and used Yes Glue to attach it to my journal.

The small photo incorporated into the fabric paper top right page is me with cool white sunglasses, on my grandfather's boat in Florida, circa 1965?

Both sides are fabric pieces I did, glued to the pages. I somehow feel this project is just showing me what to do. I was not planning on journaling! I have never kept an artist journal. It just seemed like I needed to write for this project and so that is what I did. Who knows what will come next? I received comments about being brave to start with my covers for this project . . . Truthfully, I felt I needed to do that and I also wanted to do that to 'set the stage' so to speak, to get me started with this project. For me, getting started is making myself jump in. Once I jump, I do not worry, I just swim! Does that sound silly? Well, it is the truth for me. How about you? How do you get geared up to create? I'd love to hear!

A sympathy card I hand delivered today to my neighbor, Bean . . . the front of this card uses a small section of the huge fabric-paper collage I made, remember? This tiny section of it includes a small photo of me (L) and my sister (R) when we were young. Bean loved the sewing I did on the paper card. Click on the card to see another photo that includes the envelope.
Happy Sunday!

Above is an enlarged version (from flickr) of the ATC I made for Caryl Hoobler as part of the Color Groupies exchange. I made these ATCs a while ago but needed to keep them under wraps until everyone in the group had received them, so it would be a surprise! We have a small, closed group of just four artists now, who exchange ATCs on a monthly basis. The only rule is that we create our ATCs based on a specific color combination and for March, our color combo was Pastel pink and Dove Grey. I started out with that HUGE fabric-paper collage I made last month.

My, my, it's looking kind of 'holey' now! I got the pieces below from it -I thought they would work; click for more detail.

I hand sewed silver (grey) beads on to the fabric pieces, added decorative sewing with pink thread and beautiful clear stickers with birds, from Alpha Stamps.

The photo in the ATC above is of my father and his sister when they were very small. I had incorporated it into my original fabric-paper collage, and then cut the fabric so to include it in the ATC, which was sent to Debby Harriettha.

The photo on the ATC above is me this time, on a boat when I was a young girl visiting my grandmother in Florida! This ATC was sent to my very good friend, Frieda Oxenham.

This last ATC I made for myself! I like to create an extra one to keep and display with the other ATCs I receive from Debby, Caryl and Frieda. I have a couple of very fat notebooks containing all these ATCs for inspiration as this is my 3rd year participating. Next month, look for Pomegranate & Plum as our color combo! lenna young andrews - April 9th, 2010

Steven came upon me scanning parts of the huge fabric-paper piece I made and said, "I have to take a couple photos of this!". He thought it was pretty funny because the fabric-paper I made is so big compared to the scanner - it is probably 12 times the size of the scanner! I did have to fold and maneuver the big piece of fabric-paper around to scan it, but it worked and it was so worth it! Now I have some great close-up, hi-res scans that I can use for other things.

Below is a picture of a printed out scan lying on top of the original fabric-paper collage --

If you click on it you may be able to see the photo better - a printed copy is part of the original collage. The photo is of my mom, my grandmothers, and great grandmother at my parent's engagement party in January of 1956.

Today is my parent's 54th wedding anniversary, so I used this section of my large fabric-paper collage with the engagement party photo, scanned and printed onto presentation paper to create this layered card above for my mom & dad. All I did was add a little more color with ink, rubber stamp a couple of words and add a bit of metallic marker. Voila'! Hope you enjoy all this "talk" about my fabric paper collage and all the things I am sure I will do with it!!! lenna young andrews - march 27th, 2010

I've had a chance to put my huge fabric-paper collage to use! First, I cut into it and created four Dove Grey and Pastel Pink ATCs for the Colour Groupies exchange I'm in. Photos of those ATCs will be forthcoming, as we wait until they are received before revealing them. Then I cut out more sections to create a bunch of Vintage Spring ATCs for Frieda's Swap on the ATCs for ALL site. Here's what my fabric-paper collage looks like now, with lots of "holes":

yikes!The ATCs for this swap started like this -click for more detail -

Then I added more old text, and hand sewed flower and leaf beads from Alpha Stamps on. I also added iridescent glass spheres -also from Alpha Stamps, and one of my favorite embellishments. You should be able to see them below - I made six ATCs (some extras) as only 3 are required for the swap. I think it is great fun to send these off to Frieda, since she was the one who taught me and inspired me to make the fabric-paper base in the first place! I love working this way.

I rode my bicycle to the post office to mail these to Frieda in Scotland today and it was such fun! I felt like a kid. Lenna Young Andrews -March 26, 2010

Click on the photo for more details . . .
My dear online friend, award winning quilter and mixed media artist, Frieda Oxenham -who lives in Scotland, has inspired this post and the fabric-paper collage creation you see here! After at least 5 years of corresponding and sharing our art with each other, we have yet to meet in person but hope to one day. Perhaps Frieda might come to the States? Or maybe I could travel to Scotland? Who knows? I do know she would love to see some of the birds I see here in Florida and I would love to see her gorgeous Scottish countryside and her gardens. Anyway, we enjoy our online and snail mail correspondence very much and she so often inspires me. I always admire the fabric-paper she makes and what she creates with it. Click on this link to view all of the posts on her blog related to her technique of fabric paper.

Once previously, I tried making a version of Frieda's fabric-paper with scraps of fabric and paper collaged onto a piece of muslin, but this time I wanted to try rubber stamping a background, layering collage papers, layers of napkins and tissue paper, and adding color with paint ( I used Dye-na-Flow) as Frieda does. My mistake this time was finding a section of old sheet and deciding to use the whole thing! It was really too large. I persevered and even enjoyed, but it did not come out quite as I had hoped (more like Frieda's creations!) because I was attempting the technique on too large an area.

First, rubber stamping to create a background

Of course, I went a bit overboard!

Then adding papers and color - click on any photo for details!

Yikes!! I have a lot more photos showing the process that took me a few days to complete. if you would like a peek at them - view a slideshow here: Fabric-Paper collage on flickr. After I show this to my mom (this has a lot of copies of old family photos included) I will start cutting it up to use as a background for other smaller projects like ATCs, 4x4's, etc. What do you think??? Thank you for looking and commenting - lenna young andrews - March 23, 2010

Virginia Spiegel, who does an phenominal amount of fundraising for the American Cancer Society (ACS) is hosting Collage Mania II on May 5th and 6th, 2008. I am proud to say that I have created two collages for this event and I submitted them today, digitally. I found out shortly afterwards that they have been accepted, hooray! You can see them here in this post - click on any picture for more detail.

The idea for this fundraiser is that Virginia put out a call for art to be created & donated to Collage Mania II. On Gold Donor Day - Monday, May 5, 2008, all of the accepted collages will be available for a minimum donation of $80 starting at 9 a.m. CST on Virginia's website. The Regular Collage Mania Opens on Tuesday, May 6, 2008 and all collages will be available for a minimum donation of $40 starting at 9 a.m. CST. You can view all collages available - a 'Patron Preview' beginning April 28 on Virginia's website and a weekly Collage Mania Preview can be seen each Wednesday on Virginia Spiegel's blog.

Virginia writes, "Collage Mania II will be held May 5 and 6 on my website. There will be a Collage Mania II preview page with more information for patrons prior to that date and all available collages will be posted a week in advance so you have time to study your choices."Note: Fiberart for a Cause has raised over $150,000. that has been donated to the ACS. This is the #2 Nationwide Fundraiser for 2007 ACS Relay For Life (Press Release).

I created my collages on a piece of fabric-paper I created last summer based on the instructions my quilt and mixed media artist friend, Frieda Oxenham gave me. A tutorial on how I created this base for my collages is told here, in an earlier post. I used my original fabric paper for these two collages, not a copy. To the fabric paper I added Lumiere paint, rubber stamping with VersaCraft inks, pigment powders, a button, ribbon embroidery thread and a small flower. As specified, I mounted them on 10" h x 8" w 140lb watercolor paper, signed and ready to be framed. My husband was so impressed to see my collage work so professionally prepared! I think I will have to treat my collages like this more often.

When submitting these two collages to Virginia she asked us to indicate if we were donating our collage as a survivor, or in honor of or in memory of someone special to you.

I wrote in my submission, "Virginia, I am doing these collages in honor of my father. He is a survivor of prostate cancer (5 years ago) and on March 24th, 2008, he had a tumor removed from his colon that was cancerous. I want to thank you personally Virginia, for all you do for the American Cancer Society and the way you gather together artists for this worthy cause."

I am going to participate in Collage Mania II this year (the deadline is soon!) and this small college (4x6) was a practice, or rather a warm-up for me. I used a bit of the paper & fabric collage I created last summer based on the instructions my quilt and mixed media artist friend, Frieda Oxenham gave me. Oh, what great fun this was to make! I think I will try my hand at another fabric paper collage soon. Read more about the process here and, can you spy the section of the larger fabric & paper collage I got this from?

Earlier this year, just around new year's, I received an invitation from Greta Young of Australia to join a new Arty International yahoo group for mixed media artists to share their art via organized swaps. Greta had participated in some of my swaps in the past and I was looking for the opportunity to be a participant instead of a host, and work with some new artists - and so I happily joined!

I have just finished my first swap pieces for an ATC swap on the group with Greta's theme,"Favourite Thing". We are swapping 9 for 9. I had to think a while and even discuss it with my husband before coming up with what I wanted to do. I finally decided that "art" and making art, mixed media art with fabric, paper & stamping was really my favorite thing, and then off I went.

I started by finding the original fabric & paper collage I had made last summer. Click on the link above to read how I created it. Since making this large fabric/paper collage I had copied it onto both paper and fabric & then used the copies, but I had never used the original. For this swap, I wanted the original for the texture. I cut two long strips off the top & the bottom of the large piece (most of the original piece is still intact) and used matte medium to adhere it to ATC sized cards, made of lightweight card stock. When they were dry, I used rubber stamps with VersaCraft ink to stamp all over each card and spell out my favorite thing. I also used a bit of StazOn ink and Brilliance ink in Gold for the stamping, and some of this was done onto tissue paper and then added to the ATC with more matte medium.

(click on any image for more detail)

When everything was dry I took the cards to my new sewing machine, changed needles to a heavy-duty one (this was thick to sew through) and used a great overcast stitch to finish the edges . . . I am still marveling at this new machine! It's a Brother 60-Stitch Computerized Sewing Machinewow! I love it. I added a bit more stamping until I was satisfied, and then stamped and labeled the backs. They will head off to Australia tomorrow and I look forward to seeing my returns and being part of the Arty International Group. Any questions about it, please contact Greta through her blog -there is a sign-up button there!

See below for a super-size image from my flickr account!!These ATCs are really only 2.5 x 3.5"!! I've made this ATC into a postage stamp and also put this same design on a Tote bag. Feel free to personalize and order for yourself!

I took a photo copy on matte photo paper of a section of the large fabric collage I made last week, then used the paper copy to decorate the cover of a blank journal. Even though it is a COPY of my fabric & paper collage- it looks like the real thing because of the matte photo paper! Click on the photo for more detail.

I used YES glue to adhere the paper copy to the plastic-like cover of the journal. You can see that I also added a real peice of the fern tissue paper to the bottom of the collaged copy - it matches the copy of the same image above it. I also added a litte stamping to the cover with StazOn ink (permanent) - also just a couple of stamps to the inside pages. I made this journal for my son Dallas, 22 years old. Dallas and his girlfriend Liz will be leaving the area tomorrow for a stop in Maryland to visit with her parents and store some stuff, and then on to Chicago to set down new roots. Steven and I had a family party for them last night and I wanted to give them each a gift as a going away present.

The inside is very simple - look:

For Liz, I took a felted bag I found at Joggles.com and a copy of my fabric collage that I had copied to a fabric sheet. I cut a rectagular section and used the Ultimate glue to attach it, adding a fiber-like trim to 2 sides. Liz loved it! See the photos below . . . .

Click on the photos for more detail.

A few photos from our party for Dallas & Liz . . . .

My sister, Decklin and Dallas

Here is Liz, her mom Peg, and My dad looking at one of the beautiful canoes he made for us . . .

Me and my mom - isn't she beautiful in the shirt I stamped for her 10 years ago??

My love Steven, with our pup Asia playing tricks again . . .

This is a Bongo Board! Dallas told me I made his night complete by having it out! When I was a little girl we used to balance on this in the basement all the time & my boys did the same growing up. : ))

happy day!

More fun fotos from this partyhere - scroll down under the journal quilt : ))

I had forgotten I had a couple more pictures in my camera related to Frieda's fabric collage technique I recently tried . . . please read the two posts below this one - 'Fabric Collage' and 'Journal Quilt #24' - for more about this!This photo shows the 6 reprints of my fabric/paper collage that I made onto Matte Photo paper on the top left, and also the 3 reprints I made onto 'fabric sheets' on the top right. The original collage is shown on the bottom (click on the photo for more detail). One of the fabric sheets was home-made, meaning I ironed muslin onto freezer paper to send it through my printer. That's the one on the bottom of the 3 . . . and the one I used to make my journal quilt #24 with. The other 2 fabric sheets are commercially made and whiter & brighter! This photo shows my journal quilt in progress . . . for the finished quiltie, see the post below this. I love seeing the actual tissue paper of the fern-like plant on top of the cloth that holds the photo copied version of the same image! It's darker and repeats the pattern, which I like. I am excited about this new technique (for me) that I learned from Frieda. I think this is just the beginning!

Lenna Young Andrews: creativity is my passion

Lenna is a mixed media artist who art journals and plays with paint, paper & ink. She’s passionate about creative expression. “Everyone can benefit from doing a few simple creative things, as often as possible!”